Saturday, June 09, 2012

And
may not the Spirit of Christ speak in the female as well as the male?
Who is it that dare limit the Holy One of Israel? For the Light is
the same in the male and in the female, and it cometh from Christ. .
. . And who is it that dare stop Christ's mouth?-
George Fox, early Quaker evangelist

Something
that set early Quakers apart from many other Christians was their
witness to the spiritual equality of women. Mindful of the
scriptural admonition against quenching
the Spirit, all Friends - young and old, women and men - were
encouraged to preach the gospel as they were led. While the
established Church singled out a smattering
of passages
that seemed
to justify the subordination of women, Friends prayerfully
examined the entire testimony of the Old and New Testaments and found
that the Spirit was leading them to affirm the spiritual equality of
women and men.

As
one might imagine, the early Friends' insistence on the equal
ministry of women stirred up trouble. Indeed, many Quakers were
beaten, tortured and imprisioned; many more lost social standing or
had their property seized. If the ministry of women had been a
secondary concern, Friends might have understandably given way.
Better to compromise on a non-essential than to see your friends and
family attacked, even killed! So why were Quakers willing to suffer
terribly to uphold the ministry of women? The answer is simple: The
spiritual equality of women is not an "extra" that
Christians can take or leave - it is one of the essential marks of a
people who are being led by the Holy Spirit.

The
foundational discovery of the Quaker movement is that Jesus Christ is
literally present with us, and that he will change us from the inside
out. At a time when most Christians believed that human sin and
depravity were inescapable facts of life, Friends testified to their
own experience of being inwardly transformed. As the Holy Spirit
moved in their lives, these women and men found that their entire
nature was being changed. As they grew in faithfulness, they
experienced redepmtion from the fallen state of Adam, being re-formed
in the image of Christ.

The
Quaker experience is a profound reversal of the natural order. Where
death once reigned, we are now abundantly alive; where we had
previously been enslaved by hatred and selfishness, we find freedom.
Quakers recognize that this amazing transformation is the fulfillment
of God's intention for the creation. When we are in Christ,
everything
old passes away and there is a new creation. None of the old
rules of sin and death apply.

One
of the hallmarks of the old, fallen order is the subordination of
women to men. Though in many places
patriarchy is still the unquestioned status quo,
Quakers believe that this social arrangement is a result of
humanity's fall from grace. When human beings are living in the image
of Adam and Eve, man
rules over woman. Yet, in Christ we experience the first fruits
of the New Creation. Our lived experience of transformation by the
Holy Spirit is exactly what Paul described in
Romans: Though "death exercised dominion from Adam to
Moses," Christ has brought a new reign of life! Adam dragged
humanity into the reign of death where male domination was the norm. But
now Jesus
is empowering his friends to resist the death-dealing culture of
patriarchy.

It
is because we have tasted this new life that we know a new day is
dawning in Christ. As we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit,
darkness loses its grip on us. We are re-born into a life of
spiritual freedom that includes all of us. We find that we are living
in the days when the
Lord says:

In
the last days it will be, God declares,

that
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy...

Even
upon my slaves, both men and women,

in
those days I will pour out my Spirit;

and
they shall prophesy.

When
the Lord is present, human distinctions fade into the background. It
is not about us anymore.
Instead, all our focus is on Jesus.
When we are gathered in his power, we discover for ourselves that
"there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or
free, there is no longer male or female; for all of [us] are one in
Christ Jesus."

Have
you had this experience of Christ's transformative power? What are
ways you have seen the Holy Spirit break through human distinctions?
How can we participate in the abundant life and radical liberation
that the Spirit brings?